CHINA:A village in southwestern China erupted in violence yesterday over efforts to enforce the country's strict family planning policies.
Thousands of villagers clashed with busloads of officials and police armed with guns and electric cattle prods, pulling down a wall surrounding the government office, turning over cars and burning part of its main building. One villager in Shabei county in Guangxi, said dozens of protesters had been arrested.
A hospital doctor said several injured people had been treated there. One protester had been hit on the head by a brick thrown from the government building, and two officials had also been brought in for treatment, he said.
The riots echoed similar unrest in other parts of the country, such as those two years ago in the village of Huaxi in Zhejiang province.
Witnesses said the streets were strewn with broken glass and bricks and that cars and a gate near the government office were burnt out.
The disturbances were linked to local government moves to intensify family-planning policies, villagers said. Under the one-child policy, which China launched in 1980 to control population growth, most families are limited to having one child.
However, there are exceptions. In rural areas, couples are allowed have a second child if the first-born is a girl, a practice that has boosted a traditional preference for boys, and there have been reports of forced abortions and female infanticide.
In Shabei, some couples with more than one child have had to pay fines of tens of euro. Officials entered houses and seized property to enforce the fines.